​The City of Lake Forest, IL has developed an intuitive application that allows the public to view ongoing capital improvement projects and related project information. The Engineering department requested a method for residents to be able to quickly view capital improvements throughout the city. With the assistance of staff from the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) department, the Engineering department hosted a map application that displayed the location of each project. Each project will have a unique photo, as well as a comprehensive list of related information.

The first step was for GIS staff to acquire all of the project locations and information. The capital improvement projects were then mapped and the related information populated. The data was then loaded into an online map environment, called Story Maps, which is powered by Esri’s ArcGIS Online environment. The Story Maps interface provides a user the ability to host an interactive map showing localized data, in this case improvement projects. The end result of this project was a URL web link that is embedded on the city’s webpage. Once the Story Map was published, users could view the current construction projects. A user could select a property on the map and additional information, including a photo, is displayed in a pop-up dialog box.

Creating this interactive map provides residents with a streamlined source of information. Users can be able to browse city capital improvement projects without looking through a cumbersome word document or spreadsheet. Having this information in an intuitive format and in accessible location has proven to be a valuable and time saving resource.